NEWARK, NJ — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) likened President Donald Trump’s call to deploy the National Guard without California Governor Gavin Newsom’s request to being a ‘cop killer’, accusing him of violating long-standing protocols and inflaming public tensions.
Booker also peddled the now debunked claim that four police officers were killed on January 6th. One of those officer, New Jersey native Brian Sicknick was killed by rioters on January 6th. The other three officers included in Booker’s tally committed suicide, taking their own lives. No murder charges were ever filed against any alleged murder suspects.
The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner stated that Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes. – U.S. Capitol Police
“Law enforcement knows it’s good when there’s cooperation and coordination,” Booker said. “For the President to do this when it wasn’t requested, breaking with generations of tradition, is only going to incite the situation and make things worse.”
Booker criticized Trump’s law enforcement record, focusing on his inaction during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his subsequent pardons of those convicted. “We are now at a point where we have a President who sat back and did nothing as people stormed our Capitol, viciously beat police,” he said. “And then when those people who viciously beat police and led to some of their deaths — therefore cop killers — were convicted by juries, he then pardoned them all.”
The New Jersey senator described Trump’s renewed push for law-and-order measures as contradictory, given his past decisions. “So for him to be talking to anybody right now about responsive law enforcement to protect people is hypocritical at best,” Booker said.
Booker: Trump arrests immigrants at hearings, draws backlash in GOP areas
Booker also condemned Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement, arguing that it has sown confusion and unrest in communities nationwide. “A lot of these peaceful protests are being generated because the President of the United States is sowing chaos and confusion by arresting people who are showing up for their immigration hearings, who are trying to abide by the law,” he said.
The senator noted rising concern among some Trump-aligned communities about aggressive immigration raids. “You see this in communities that are Republican, Trump supporters, being outraged that he’s raiding kitchens and arresting people, [in] high schools, and arresting people who are not what he said he would do — which is focus law enforcement resources on violent criminals and people that are a danger to other Americans,” Booker said.
Booker also reaffirmed his support for peaceful demonstrations and made clear that violence against law enforcement is unacceptable. “Any violence against police officers should not be accepted,” he said, but emphasized that local authorities are equipped to handle incidents without federal interference.
Sen. Booker accused Trump of stoking disorder through unauthorized National Guard deployments and by pardoning those he called “cop killers” from the Capitol riot.
